Illuminated sign



I. G. ARNOLD.

ILLUMINATED SIGN.

Amncmou man lune 24.1919.

Patented May 25, 1920.

IIIIITIIILIIIIIIII WITN ESSES Isheets of .UNITED STATES Pa'riznr`orr-lcI-z.L l

JAMES G. lMR'NOLI), OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA.

ILLUMINATED SIGN.

l Application led June 24,

To all whom z't may concern:

" Be it known that I, Jamas G. ARNOLD, an American citizen, residing atToronto, in the Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, have invented anew and useful Illuminated Sign, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention has reference to illuminated signs, and its object is toprovide a glass sign character of ornamental appearance particularlyvisible, both by direct light reflected from its visible surfaceand bylight'transmitted through the character, whereby the character isstrikin ly observable either by daylight or at nig t.

In accordance wlth the invention, the sign character is formed of glassand may be pressed or molded from a sheet of glass of more lor lesstranslucent nature, the preferable kind of glass being known as opallass, although other kinds of lass may employed. It has heretofore enproposed to produce .sign characters from' glassrinolded or pressed intoshape with the sign characters either flat or in relief, orsometimes deressed. These different `forms`=of-sign cllaracters are objectionable,in certain respects in that they either do4 not killuminate well in bothartificial light and daylight, or, in the case of aracters in relief,the effect is more or less interfered with, especially when thecharacter is viewed at a considerable angle from one side.

The invention provides a sign character in which the outlines of thestrokes 'are raised or are in relief with respect to the body of thesign character and by appro priately coloring the relief outlines apleasmg effect is produced and the visibility of the character isgreatly increased.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration ofthefollowing detailed description taken in connection with t theaccompanying drawing forming part of this specification, with theunderstanding, however, that the invention is not confined to any strictconformity with the showin of the drawing, but may be changed anmodified so long as such changes and modifications mark no materialdeparture from the salient features of the invention as expressed in theappended claims.

In the drawin Fi re l is a ace view of a sign embodyin t e inventio lig. 2 is a lsection through the sign char- Speeication otletters Patent.

Patented May 25, 1920.

1919. `Seria1 No. 308,292.

acter on the line 2-2Vof Fig. l, but drawn on a larger scale.

Fig. 3 is a rear face view of the glass portion of one of the signcharacters.

Fig. 4. 1s a section of the glass portion gf thle 4sign character on theline 4 4 of Referring to the drawing there is shown va frame lV whichmay be considered as of suitable size and inclosing an appropriatenumber of separate sign characters 2. Such sign characters are usuallycarried by stencil plates 3 each individual to a sign character,andwhere the `characters demand it, the stencil plates have fillerportions 4, the plates and filler portions being of opaque material,usually sheet metal. Within the frame 1 back of the sign characters areilluminating devices 5 usually in the form of incandescent electriclamps.

The invention has to do particularly with the sign characters 2themselves and so no further descri tion need be given ofthe other partso the si n, since such other parts are not new in illuminated sions.

Each sign character 2 is formed o a sheet 6 of glass preferably, though.not necessarily, of the kind known as opal or milk tglass which is moreor less translucent,

ereby breaking up any markedly distinct view of the illuminatingelements re re,- sented by the electric lamps 5, and pro ucing asoftness of illumination pleasing to the eye of the observer. Opalormilk glass has a further advantage of being pleasingly visible bydaylight.

Projecting from the outer face of the glass sheet 6 are parallel orsubstantially parallel hollow ribs 7 outlining intervening portions 8 ofthe glass sheet and together forming the character strokes, that is,each character stroke is formed of a plain por tion 8 with relief hollowribs 7 on opposite sides thereof. The character strokes are therefore inrelief, but the relief part is confined to the marginal portions of thestrokes. This permits the application of coloring matter 9 to the innerfaces of the holloivs7 ribs, such coloring matter being of moreor lesstransparent character. The result is that by daylight and without anyback illumination the slgn characters appear white, or practically so,with the margins of the strokes outlined and made particularly distinctby the outstanding or relief ribs. .At night with the illuminating unitsback of the sign 1 characters glowing,

these characters appear Sil lY il ll l (l t in the main white but areoutlined with color produced by the coloring matter 9 on the rear facesof the ribs. The characters are made to stand out with greaterprominence than usual by the outliningwith a suitable color so that thecharacter is not only ren dered more distinct than it of one appearan'ze throughout, but it is also particularly pleasing to the eye.Moreover, sign characters are usually so positioned that the observer iscustomarily out of direct line therewith, say to one side ot or belowthe side. Under such circumstances the outstanding marginal ribsoutlining the sign characters render them more distinct, with the reliefmargins on opposite sides oi' eachfs'troke standing out distinctly andin no wise interfered with by the central or main body portions of thecharacter strokes. rlhe distinctiveness of visibility is true whetherthe sign character he viewed by daylight, and hence be seen by lightreflected from the .outerface of the sign, or the sign character raisedmargins,

be Viewed by artilicial light with the illuminating units back of theobserved face of the sign character. c

The invention is not restricted to the use of opal or milk glass, sinceother glass, particularly of translucent character, may be used, and theinvention is not restricted to the use of any particular color of theoutly-l ing ribs of the character strokes.

The inventionis not limited to the plain portion 4of the characterstrokes between the ribs being flat, for such be more or less concave.When the body ot' the character stroke is in the same plane as the glassplate of which the character is formed, here is better illumination atnight than when such portion of the character stroke is either-raised ordepressed, but such flat form lacks the effectiveness from an angle thatis possessed by the raised stroke form. The invention, however, combinesthe advantages of both the flat plate form and the raised characterstroke form by combining with the flatI plate form the which latter areparticularly effective when y interiorly colored, thereby contrastinglyoutlining the character strokes with no parts of the character strokeshidden as would occur if the margins were colored and the bodies of thestrokes were convex. It is to be understood that the showing of thecoloring matter 9 appearing in Figs. 2 and 4 is greatly exaggerated inthickness because of the practical impossibility of showing a properthickness in proportion to the other parts of the drawing.

By forming the edge or outlining portions of the sign character strokesof ribs projecting half anl inch more lor less from the plane of thesign character, such character will be rendered'more-visible at'anyangle than. other sign. characters.` By.VT providing plain portion maythe outlining colored edges in relief the character strokes are renderedvisible to a greater distance than other sign characters. Commerciallythe sign character, by including its own outline, may be more cheaplyconstructed, and provides a sign character with a permanently coloredoutline visible at night and an all-white eilect by daylight. rlheconstruction of the sign character also contributes to ampleillumination with less candle power of the illuminants.

It is to be understood that the invention is adaptable to either singleface or double face illuminated signs.

What is claimed is l. A sign character for illuminated signs having thecharacter strokes formed of light transmitting material, with eachstroke marginally outlined by separated hollow relief ribs of the samematerial.

2. A sign character tor illuminated signs having the character strokesformed of light transmitting material and outlined with marginal ribs ofthe same material, said ribs being hollow and coated interiorly withcoloring matter transmissible of light.

3. A sign character for illuminated signs having the character strokesformed of glass outlined by integral hollow glass margins in relief andcharacteristically different in illuminating eii'ect from the portionsof the strokes between the margins.

4. A sign character for illuminated signs, comprising a plane sheet ofglass with re- .lief character strokes outlined by relief spaced ribscharacteristically diiferent in api. pearance to an observer from thatof the sheet of glass and the ribs.

5. A sign character for illuminated signs having its strokes of lightdiusive glass with the margins of the strokes spaced apart and in reliefon the observed faces of the spaces b etween' the strokes, the innerfaces of the marginal porltions of the strokes being colored with alight transmitting color.

6. Alsign character tor illuminated signs havingsubstantially flatcharacter strokes of translucent glass with outlining stroke margins inhollow relief formed in one piece i with the character .strokesandcolored on thev inner or hollow faces, whereby the sign character withits outlining margins is of one color throughout by daylight, and byartifieial light passing through the sign character, the margins of thelatter are colored in accordance with the color gi'ven to said marginson their inner faces.

ln testimony, that l claim the 'foregoing as my own, l have heretoatlixed my signature..

' JAMES G. ARNOLD.

Witnesses:

DENIS J. lS/IcCArrrrmr,- P. Brssrm;

